So far I feel that the planning for my GAME plan is coming along very nicely. Over the last week I have had a lot of really great suggestions from my classmates that I feel like I should integrate into my plan. One great suggestion that I have added to my plan is having my students present their findings to the administration or the the board of education. I feel that doing this will not only prove to my students that their research was real life and meaningful, but it will also show the board of education the desperate need for updated technology in the school district. Another suggestion that I liked was having students research different methods besides just purchasing pre made computers. Students could actually research purchasing parts of a computer to create their own computer at a cheaper rate. I believe that an addition like this to the assignment would be something very good for students who need to have extension lessons.

The difficult part so far has been finding the resources to actually purchase the school computers, I thought it would be easy to find listings for computers and other types of technology online that was geared towards school districts, but as it turns out that material is kept pretty private for bid purposes. My plan is to go to the business administrator in the school and see if there are any catalogs or companies that the school deals with to see if we are able to compare bid prices to other prices that my students are able to find.

I really learned that collaboration is key in creating a plan like this. Without sharing my ideas with others and reading and listening to what they have to say my plan would not be set into motion with such great components. I think that being able to bounce and idea off of a group of people and hearing all of the different feedback really gets your own mind going and you are able to come up with different ideas then you would have on your own. It makes me really yearn to have this type of community at school, unfortunately as much as we try sometimes that isn’t supported by the entire building.

The questions that I have now are will I have enough time to complete this assignment and is it appropriate for fifth grade students? I think doing a little research with the technology teacher will allow me to see the background of knowledge that my students have. I already have a pretty good understanding of their mathematics abilities and I can see that budgeting may be a difficult task for them to manage, but one that they really need to work on because it is such a vital real life skill.

My GAME Plan is to develop a lesson to reach my students using technology and a real life situation. I wanted to create a budgeting activity to show students how to save, spend, and budget accordingly to plan an event of their own choosing. What I am learning towards now is to have my students research a way to make our school a school with enough technology to support the students comfortably on an actual budget set by the school board, but I wasn’t sure if I would have the resources to do so. I know that my students would have to be able to research what items they would need to make a new computer lab, including computers, a SMART Board with a projector, a new color printer, and software that the school desperately needs. I would also like to see my students choose between a computer that is more cost effective, but not equipped with the proper software or hardware, or spending more money on more expensive computers that may last a longer time.

To do this I believe that my students will have to research the differences between different computers. At this time in the year most of my students have had a technology class (or at least has started a technology class) with the exception of students who are pulled for BSI. I think that for this project I would need to work together with the technology teacher. Luckily, starting April 20th, I will become In-Class Support with the 5th grade technology class so this works out well. I have already discussed this project with her and we are hoping to be able to begin once I arrive as In-Class Support.

I will ask the board secretary if it is possible to get a figure of how much money in the school budget was allotted towards technology. I have also obtained catalogs that my school uses to purchase their technology so that my students are able to see how their teachers and administrators order technology. They are then also able compare and contrast prices that they are able to gather on the Internet. Students will be discouraged from using eBay as a source because prices are not set. I believe a project like this is not only important because students are able to learn a real life skill, but this could possibly be something that could have a real impact on the school. I’m hoping that my students understand the importance of research before they buy something, how shopping around to find a better price could benefit them, and hopefully the importance of money.

The National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers include five indicators that educators should follow in order to be successfully integrating technology into their own classroom. (ISTE, 2012) After reading the indicators I have chosen two to take a closer look at and create GAME plans to build my confidence in so I can better integrate technology into my classroom. The first indicator that I have chosen to create a GAME plan for is to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. I feel that although I do integrate technology in my classroom to enhance my instruction, I often do not bring it into my assessment as often as I could. The second indicator that I have chosen to create a GAME plan for is to engage in professional growth and leadership, I chose this indicator because I feel that with my knowledge and background in technology I could help my school district by lending myself to other teachers to help inform them of the different uses of technology.

First, my GAME plan to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments is vital to successfully creating a 21st century learner because this area is what helps promotes independent and self-directed learners. My goal is to create a unit in mathematics where students have a much more hands-on learning experience involving technology and a real world issue. I believe that setting this goal will engage students in a digital-age learning experience and provide me with an opportunity to incorporate technology in my assessment tools. I think an appropriate unit for this goal would be a budgetary unit where students are given a certain budget and then they must use the technology in order to complete their task. Students will be able to research items, calculate costs, inquire about services, and then use the technology to then display their project in an easy to read way. To make sure my students are engages and actively a part of this project, they will have the opportunity to decide what event they are planning for. I believe that giving my students this part of the project as their own will really engage students because it will be something that they’re actually interested in. Throughout the unit I will continue to assess my students in a formative assessment style. I will check students’ progress and provide feedback and guidance so that they are able to better adapt their budget and research to be successful. The way that I evaluate my goal is by assessing my students’ final project and seeing if they were able to successfully use technology to solve real-world issues in mathematics.

My second GAME plan will be designed to engage in professional growth and leadership. Throughout my time at Walden University I have gained a vast knowledge of technology and how to successfully incorporate it in a classroom. I also believe that I have a good background knowledge of technology that some of my colleagues do not have. I would like to set a goal to provide assistance to those that need help and also help develop workshops for my fellow teachers to see the benefits of integrating technology into their own classroom. Another thing that I believe will be very beneficial as a goal would be to begin grant writing to acquire more technology in our school. My school district is very behind in technology. We have recently received a few SMART Boards, which were placed in some language arts classrooms without providing any training because they felt that that is the topic where students need the most work immediately. Although I agree that language arts is a difficulty of our school district, I’m not sure that I agree with placing SMART Boards in those classrooms without any type of training is beneficial for the teachers or the students. This useful tool is now not being utilized in a proper way because of the lack of training. I would like to go to SMART Board and other technology workshops so that we are better able to use this technology and actually show growth on our test scores.

I believe that these two goals will positively affect my teaching, classroom, and school. My students will be able to see how real-life technology and mathematics are. Hopefully with my goal of grant writing to acquire new technology will provide my school district with the technology that they desperately need to become a 21st century school.